Reuters published a photograph taken during the weekend of America’s 250th birthday celebration. It depicted a young black woman seated by herself on a packed D.C. metro train. Standing and sitting around her were white men wearing white masks. They belong to a white nationalist organization called Patriot Front, a group involved in the violent 2017 Charlottesville, Virginia, rally that resulted in the death of a woman. The intimidating-looking men reportedly said nothing to the woman and never threatened her, and she remained composed.
The photo quickly went viral and was hailed by many journalists and commentators as a microcosm of America in this era of President Donald Trump. Euronews wrote this headline: “Defining image of the era of American history” — and wrote, “Many have called for the Reuters photo to receive the Pulitzer Prize.” A headline in a publication called The 19th News said: “The Black woman on the train did not look away. How much longer will we?” Word in Black wrote this headline: “A Metro Car Photo Became a Portrait of Trump’s America — A Black woman on a Metro train crowded with masked white nationalists offered a chilling reminder that America’s racial history is never far behind.”
The message is clear: Anti-black racism remains a potent force in America — and how much longer can we “look away”?
Patriot Front, described as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, does not publicly disclose its membership numbers. But the probable number is about 600, 400 of whom came to D.C. that weekend. As a percentage of America’s population of 320 million, this comes to 0.0001875% — or about 1.9 people per 1 million Americans, less than two ten-thousandths of 1% of the population. This does not excuse this pathetic racist group, but perspective matters.
As to the photo providing “a chilling reminder that America’s racial history is never far behind,” consider the rise and decline of the Ku Klux Klan. At its peak in the mid-1920s, KKK membership ranged between 4 million and 6 million. Now? Ten years ago, the Anti-Defamation League wrote: “Just a decade ago, Klan groups such as the White Camelia Knights, the Mississippi White Knights, and the Church of the National Knights exhibited consistent activity. Today, all three are mere shadows of their former selves.” In the 10 years since then, little has changed.
If anti-black racism remains a dominant social force, one would expect Americans to avoid interracial friendships, workplaces and hiring. The opposite is true.
In February 2026, the Brookings Institution and Gallup published “Interracial Cooperation in the United States,” a survey of 5,000 adults. Its principal findings: 83% of Americans say race is not important when choosing friends; 72% have either a close or a casual friend of a different race; 87% say race is not important in business decisions; 80% of workers report having coworkers of a different race; 85% made race-neutral hiring decisions, with 10% showing a preference for a black applicant and 5% showing a preference for a white applicant; and 48% report having a boss or supervisor of a different race.
Meanwhile, New York congressional Democrat primary winner Darializa Avila Chevalier, a black member of the Democrat Socialists of America, posted on X about her objection to interracial relationships. She denounced “Black men and Arab men fetishizing ugly colonizer women.” She called white women “ugly colonizer women” and boasted about slamming the door on an “old white lady.”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who endorsed Chevalier and for whom she once worked, vowed to “shift the tax burden from overtaxed homeowners in the outer boroughs to more expensive homes in richer and whiter neighborhoods.”
When Florida Republican Congressman Byron Donalds said black families were more intact during Jim Crow than they are today, Texas Democrat Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett said, “Is this because you don’t understand history? Or literally it’s because you married a white woman and so you think that whitewashed you?”
Patriot Front will never elect members to Congress. None of its members will become mayor of America’s largest city. So, yes, there is a race problem in America, and it’s the blatant racism of prominent figures on the left. This is the real defining image of this era of American history.
To paraphrase: How much longer will we look away?
Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an “Elderado,” visit here. Follow Larry on X @larryelder. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage.
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Larry Elder makes too much sense and I wish he was Governor of California! I’m almost 68 and attended public schools in southern CA. We all got along in the 1970’s. I bothers me that the ACTUAL racists are trying to divide this country and succeeding. Jasmine Crockett is in fact racist. Sunny Hostin is racist. Whoopi Goldberg is racist. Every black American that hates white people just for the color of their skin is racist. Yet, only “white” people are called racist. Why do I have a check a box sometimes that says “White-Not Latino?” So, latinos are white. Is that why the left had to section them off and call them “people of color?” Isn’t white a color too? I’m so sick of this divisive rhetoric and its mostly coming form the left and the media.
When Democrats and the media truly become colorblind and simply calls all citizens AMERICANS, the left will never win another election.
We should long ago have stopped all immigration so that our population could intermarry and eliminate “racial” differences.
“Race” is an old-fashioned idea. There is only one race created by God: the human race.
My ancestry is 97-100% European. My wife’s is 97-100& Asian. We are not two different “races,” but one married couple.
The behavior of most of the women on the radical liberal side who are running for office are the most racist, most America-hating, most Communist and the biggest liars of all women who are running for office. Their vitriol is appalling as is their hate for Jews and our president. I pray enough people do NOT vote for them because they are dangerous and have NO qualifications for holding a government positions. Thanks for this article, Mr. Elder.
One of the best bosses I’ve ever worked for was Black. I don’t care about your race, I do care about your character. A jerk is a jerk. Period.
So the REAL story is, Black Womans gets on a train and is in no way molested by White men. I don’t even get what the big story is. She was perfectly safe, apparently, and nothing happened. Since when is that a story? If it wasn’t for race baiting, the Left would have no stand on anything. I’m disgusted. What about the white woman cop who was assaulted and beaten by a bunch of black teenage thugs? No Pulitzer Prize in THAT picture, I’m guessing.
When are we going to just say Right or Wrong instead of Black or White?
King was right, people should be judged by the content of their character and not their race. In other words what kind of human being are they.
Black racism against whites, and ironically most heatedly against Jews [who were at the bleeding edge of “civil rights” efforts in the ’60s-’70s], has been a problem for most of my lifetime. I remember being chased by bunches of black kids in my own neighborhood — because I was white — on more than one occasion. Threats and actual violence against the white minority in my NYC public schools by blacks were the norm. Nothing was ever done about it either by school officials or police unless the victim was hospitalized or dead. My ancestors WERE slaves, they never OWNED slaves, either in Europe or here.
So, why the hatred? Broken families, dysfunctional government-run schools, overloaded and preoccupied law enforcement, violent and racialist “entertainment,” and DemocRATS promoting racist politics to maintain political control in major cities.
RACISM will never go away. Those Dumba$$ocrat$ refuse to let go of it….
There is only one race: Homo sapiens sapiens. That’s it. Everything else is the usual differences between individuals, skin, hair and eye color, bone structure, hair texture, etc. Where some of your ancestors came from has some significance in culture but again, that’s it. Time to put an end to this stupidity. We’re all one people. If you don’t get that, then perhaps it’s time for some deep self-reflection!
Everyone has the right to ride public transportation. Who told the news about this situation? Maybe they are the ones that want to start a race war?
The democrats and Southern Poverty Law Center all promote racism in this country. This picture to me showed that The masked patriot Front members showed no racism didn’t bother the black lady. Not like the anti ICE demonstrators who are white and oppose white ICE agents and want to kill them. This shows that people of all persuasion and skin color can get along in the Republican America. Not Trump’s America, the democrats like to put that at his feet. They will destroy America because of Trump only he is the only one that gets us to get along and keeps America strong and united.
One cannot be color blind in our big cities today, they have taken over by young black thugs.
I wonder why a picture of masked BLM and ANTIFA members rioting and burning down cities, or whacked out purple haired screaming socialists denouncing America and their own race wasn’t selected as the “Defining Image”. Seems like there are thousands of those pictures to chose from.
Larry Elder is great. Watch him every time I get a chance. Fox and Newsmax.
The race issue will never be released from the public dogma. Race is used in the grand strategy of “Divide and Conquer.” The politicians are largely to blame for this, especially the Democratic Party. Let’s just stop talking about race and celebrate we are all Americans.
First, I know nothing about Patriot Front. Given how many genuine organizations have been mislabeled as “hate groups” by the SPLC, any Any SPLC designation is seriously to be questioned, Are we sure this “Reuters” photo isn’t AI generated? Not suggesting it is, but the MSM is so unreliable & dedicated to lying & advocating leftist propaganda, that it has become nearly impossible to trust anything they print. As Americans & society worldwide, we need to totally eliminate the term “racism”, as it is both inappropriate & inaccurate. Mr. Elder should know this. There is only ONE RACE, the HUMAN RACE! It shocks me that more educated people are unaware of the conclusions of the Human Genome Project of the 1990’s. There is no “black”, & except for a small minority of mostly males suffering from a disease called Albinism, there is no “white”. We are are all various shades of brown, simply dependent upon how much melanin our skin contains. We are also all 99.98% genetically identical. The remaining .02% accounts for the various ethnic variations in humans. The correct term explaining our minimal differences is “ETHNICITY”. So I guess, if someone wants to label & emphasize these minimal differences, the correct term should be “ETHNITICISM”, rather than “racism”.
“Patriot Front” is another group the SPLC is subsidizing, no doubt. And the lady in the picture is a known criminal.
Were’s the black women ?
First, do we KNOW they were Patriot Front members? I don’t believe ANYTHING the lamestream media puts out! Second, this lady was a lot safer than a white woman would be walking through nearly ANY “Blue” city!
Fear is the Democrat tool and this picture is just what they’re using to instill it. No one was hurt. As far as I can tell from the story, not even words were exchanged.
And, BTW, I think Byron Donalds will make a great Governor for Florida when he wins. He’s a US Citizen, isn’t he? Dems just can’t stand any person of color to not think like them. It drives them crazy because it undermines their narrative that people of color cannot succeed without THEIR help.
The folks Mr. Elder mentioned who espouse patently racist rhetoric while hiding behind the leftist saw about no blacks can be racist, suffer from one deficit in their make up. A lunatic’s lack of shame.
They’re not a white nationalist group! They’re a left wing socialist black supremacist hate group a wing of the NAACP (Nazi Antichrist African Communist Party) through SPLC (Satanic Pagan Luciferian Cult)
They’re not a white nationalist group! They’re a left wing socialist black supremacist hate group a wing of the NAACP (Nazi Antichrist African Party) through SPLC (Satanic Pagan Luciferian Cult)
I’m sorry, but I’m not seeing a black woman in the picture.
They deliberately keep race stirred up because there is too much money and political power wrapped up in it. As always, follow the money and the political stroke.
When the Southern Poverty Law Center calls any organization, group, or individual a hate group, they should look in the mirror.
I urge everyone to find the book rules for radicals written by Saul Alinsky. That is the playbook for the Democrat party. exactly what they are doing. Break everybody up in the groups get them hating each other get them in fighting read the book it’s very scary. The other one is the cloward piven theory how to destroy America by overloading the social systems and causing a financial collapse I probably didn’t spell their names right but you can find it it’s a couple of liberal professors that came up with a way to ruin the country
Go look at the picture of Iryna Zarutska on her FINAL EVER bus ride. (Couldn’t paste it here).
I’m so tired of the low life race baiting left and their left-wing lying corrupt media! I was born and raised in the deep south in the 50’s, 60’s and into the 70’s. Had black best friends and we never cared about skin color. The idiot and liar ovomit set race relations back 200 years! Exactly why I refused to vote for him. We returned to the south decades later and everyone got along, but that just before ovomit elected. When the idiot ovomit got elected he caused more hate and decisiveness, exactly what he wanted to do. Now there’s so much hate on both sides of the fence and I pray it doesn’t take years to get back to where we were. Always remember, a true racist will see racism even in the sunrise! They must be very unhappy people.
Lest I checked we are all of the same race, that of homo-sapiens (human race). But when I listen to some of the bran dead libtards I sometimes wonder exactly what planet, or galaxy they come from.
It really ticks me off that forms call me white. i’m not even tan or peach. Is “outdoors guy tan” a color?
Bugs me all to heck that forms ask if someone’s black, but then ask if you’re hispanic, asian, or “caucasian”.
I used to be colorblind until al sharpton and bennie crump told me I’m not.
I can’t stand al sharpton or bennie crump, so they got something there…
the left sees negativity in every aspect of life!
mention ANYTHING to the left and they immediately jump to the negative aspect.
am reminded of AGNEWS “nattering nabobs of negativity” statement.
I’m an 81 yr old white woman – I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT RACES (AS LONG AS THEY PROVE WORTHY – NO HATE INVOLVED ON EITHER SIDE!
We have None since 60s era since Dems etc messed up images
This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt how the left has to 100% make things up to support their “views”. They say “photo providing “a chilling reminder that America’s racial history is never far behind,” A “chilling reminder”??? By their own admission, she sat there peacefully and the so called “white supremist” did absolutely nothing to her and paid her absolutely no attention. So how is them doing absolutely nothing a “chilling reminder”? These people have some serious mental issues and find boogeymen where none exist. Lastly, having the Southern Poverty Race Baiters call you a terrorist, should be a badge of honor. To them, anyone who is white and not a communist, is a “terrorist.
I;m sorry guys, but I looked and looked and looked at that photo in your article…..
I don’t see any black person at all……what’s that all about?
Thank you Larry Elder, what a statesman! And also a help in these troubled times when the media is the one pushing this racial material. We Americans of both races, had better join together to support our capitalist form of government.
The dims, have really shown that they will do anything to divide us, so that they can conquer. The white men in masks, needed transportation, and so did the young black woman. The men did her no harm, and she seemed not to be afraid.
We are always one generation away from anarchy, socialism, communism. We must wake up and stand up for what is right; not just what we believe, both Biblical morality and the truth of God in Jesus Christ.
Wonderful points made in this statement! I wish, however, that the word “race” was properly used. We are ALL ONE RACE: THE HUMAN RACE! We are different skin colors but ALL ONE RACE. We are humans! The BIBLE tells us that we were all born of one: ADAM. To hate people of different colors to hate humans.
“Race” is being used to divide us, and it’s worked since Obama reintroduced it. Only then did I experience actual racial hatred for the first time.
In summer of 2015 I was on my way into a store to shop for a few grocery items. Just as I was going in, two black women in perhaps their mid-30s were exiting. I glanced their way and they both were looking at me and when our eyes met, the look on their faces was closest thing I’ve seen to hate I’d ever experienced, but definitely a look of disrespect, and for no reason I could come up with other than my being ‘white’. I was genuinely shocked, mainly because all I’d heard/read about was “white against black” racism.
Apparently the ‘tide had turned’. And it’s only grown, thanks to the Obamas and others in prominent positions.
AI picture????????????????????
You said that better than I can!
The promotion of racism is the stock in trade of the progressive/socialist/democrat party with the solid support of the liberal media, education industry, and entertainment industry. There’s tons of money to be made by those working the civil rights industry through the continual blame game being played against Caucasians, moderates, and conservatives. I they didn’t have the race card to play, people like Maxine Waters and others would fall flat on their face at election time.
It matters little what the issue happens to be, what the question asked is about, what the people/person says…..every aspect of our lives is getting turned on its ear by using race as a catalyst …..(ask yourself who benefits when this happens.) No one is not to some degree racial leaning. No one. Experience teaches far better than the folks at the microphones. I have known people of every ethnic bend….some I liked, some I loved, some I did not care to be with…some were disliked strongly. Not because of their race…but because of the character, or lack of it. MLK talked about that…but not many folks are listening today……so, take a step back and use your critical ear to hear what is really being said and why. Not everyone is racist…..and no one isn’t. Think that over.
It is one of many divide and conquer strategies the Democrats and socialists try.
When I was in the Army at Fort Bragg in 1972. Some of the WACs sat on the steps of our barracks, and I joined them. The black women took my hand, and said, “You are not white.” Now I was quite pale, and light skinned, and they had roused my curiosity. “What am I?” I asked. “You are pink. You are a pink person.” They responded. I liked that, and we chatted a while. Since then I have thought of myself as a pink person. However, there is no pink person box on any form I have ever filled out.